Fig. 5.
Significantly lower frequency of circulating regulatory T cells (cTfr) cells in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients than in healthy controls (HC). Fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from both HC and MS were surface‐stained with anti‐CD3, anti‐CD4, anti‐chemokine receptor type 5 (CXCR5), anti‐programmed cell death 1 (PD‐1) and anti‐CD25 antibodies. Forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3) staining with anti‐FoxP3 antibody was performed according to the manufacturer’s protocol (eBioscience); (a) gating strategy: cTfr cells (right) were selected by gating FoxP3+CD25+ cells on CXCR5+PD‐1+circulating T follicular helper (cTfh) cells (left); (b) percentage of cTfr cells was calculated in MS patients and compared to that of HC, ****P < 0·0001, (c) percentage of non‐follicular circulating regulatory T cells (cTreg) cells was calculated in MS patients and compared to that of HC, *P = 0·01. Each data point indicates each individual.